Mets' Carlos Mendoza 'very optimistic' that Brett Baty will avoid IL stint

Mets third baseman Brett Baty was removed in the top of the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s win over the Pittsburgh Pirates due to left hamstring tightness, but the early expectation is that Baty will not require a stint on the injured list.

Baty, who told Abbey Mastracco of the New York Daily News that there is no imaging scheduled and that the day off on Thursday should help, is not in Wednesday's lineup, but is doing "better" according to Carlos Mendoza.

"I just saw him a while ago. It looks like we caught it early here," Mendoza said. "Still day-to-day, obviously, but overall, the early reports are encouraging."

"Yeah, I’m very optimistic [Baty will avoid an IL stint]," Mendoza added. "Again, we’ll go day-by-day, but the early reports are he should be alright."

The third baseman felt tightness when he was stretching for first base while trying to beat out a grounder in his final at-bat on Tuesday.

Baty finished 0-for-2 at the plate, grounding out twice, with the last one coming in the fifth inning. He also made a nice play at third in the top half of the fifth, charging a slow roller to get a runner at first.

Joey Wendle replaced Baty at third and would go on to drive in the game’s tying run on a double in the bottom of the seventh to start a 3-1 comeback win.